第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

第一段：
ONE firm’s bad news is often another’s good fortune. For years Lyft, an app that offers on-demand rides, was outdone by its seemingly unstoppable rival, Uber, which zoomed into new markets and grabbed a near-$70bn valuation, the largest of any private American tech firm in history. Uber does not report a share price that would register its recent troubles, which include one investigation into alleged intellectual-property theft and another into its workplace culture. But that Lyfts market share in America has risen from 18% five months ago to 25% now (according to TXN Solutions, a data provider) is a gauge of the larger firm’s crisis.

• zoom 极速上升
• intellectual-property 知识产权
• gauge 评估

第二段：
Lyft is far from a typical Silicon Valley company. Unlike Uber, it does not lust for world domination(主导) and it operates only in America. Nor does it take itself especially seriously. For years it identified its drivers by pink, fuzzy moustaches fastened to the front of cars, and encouraged riders to fist-bump their drivers and sit in the front seat (though it has now relaxed this etiquette to attract more customers).

• lust 渴望
• moustaches 小胡子

第十段：
In the immediate future Lyft may find it harder to keep differentiating itself. Uber has mimicked some of its successful tactics, such as tipping, and is overhauling its culture. Many ride-hailing drivers now work for both services, which means travelling in a Lyft car is no longer unique.

• mimicked 模拟
• unique 独特

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

Americas number two ride-hailing firm has benefited from Ubers struggles

• ride-hailing 叫车

第一段：
ONE firm’s bad news is often another’s good fortune. For years Lyft, an app that offers on-demand rides, was outdone by its seemingly unstoppable rival, Uber, which zoomed into new markets and grabbed a near-$70bn valuation, the largest of any private American tech firm in history. Uber does not report a share price that would register its recent troubles, which include one investigation into alleged intellectual-property theft and another into its workplace culture. But that Lyfts market share in America has risen from 18% five months ago to 25% now (according to TXN Solutions, a data provider) is a gauge of the larger firm’s crisis.

• zoom 极速上升
• intellectual-property 知识产权
• gauge 评估

第二段：
Lyft is far from a typical Silicon Valley company. Unlike Uber, it does not lust for world domination and it operates only in America. Nor does it take itself especially seriously. For years it identified its drivers by pink, fuzzy moustaches fastened to the front of cars, and encouraged riders to fist-bump their drivers and sit in the front seat (though it has now relaxed this etiquette to attract more customers).

• lust 渴望
• domination 主导
• moustaches 小胡子

第三段：
Its founders, Logan Green and John Zimmer, put an early emphasis on being nice to drivers, for example by allowing people to tip through the app. Many in Silicon Valley viewed such cuddly behavior as a sign that Uber would trounce it. The two do not just compete for passengers; each also tries to woo the other’s drivers. In 2014 Ubers boss, Travis Kalanick, attempted to buy Lyft.

• cuddly 拥抱
• trounce 使大败

第四段：
But Lyfts culture has turned out to be an asset. Ubers controversies, including Mr Kalanick being caught on video berating a driver, have helped its rival particularly on Americas liberal-minded west coast, where people are more squeamish about using a brand associated with sexism. Half of those who have switched to Lyft in America say that company reputation was the chief reason, says Survey Monkey, an online-polling firm.

• Controversies 有争议的
• Sexism 性别歧视
• Reputation 声望

第五段：
On June 6th Uber said it had fired 20 employees after the conclusion of an investigation into sexual harassment (the result of a broader probe, led by a former attorney-general, is due soon). One venture capitalist who has backed Uber says he is embarrassed to be seen getting into its cars. It seems no coincidence that in April Lyft said it had raised another $600m from investors, valuing the firm at $7.5bn, around a third more than its previous mark.

• Employees 雇员
• Harassment 骚扰
• Capitalist 投资人
• Embarrassed 难堪
• Coincidence 巧合

第六段：
That also reflects a change of mind among investors over the ride-hailing business. Having thought of it as a winner-takes-all market, in which one big company has a near-monopoly in each country, plenty now believe people will spend enough on transport for more than one player to prosper. Mr Zimmer, Lyfts co-founder, compares ride-hailing to the wireless-carrier market, in which several companies boast high-quality coverage and plenty of customers.

• winner-takes-all 赢者通吃
• monopoly 垄断
• coverage 报道

第七段：
Offering good coverage in ride-hailing so that rides can arrive within a few minutes, of course, requires resources. Were at the stage of building cell towers. That’s expensive, says Brian Roberts, Lyfts chief financial officer. But it may help the firm that it remains geographically and strategically focused. It has fewer distractions than Uber, which in addition to expanding globally is pushing into new business lines, like food delivery and trucking.

• geographically 地理上地

第八段：
Lyfts strategy on self-driving cars is also distinctive. Uber is investing heavily to build its own autonomous technology, guarding against the chance that another service could come in without drivers and undercut it on price. But Lyft has opened up its network to other firms, including Waymo, a self-driving car unit that is Googles sister company (and which has accused Uber of stealing trade secrets).

• distinctive 不同
• autonomous 自动

第九段：
Collaborating with others is better than building expertise in-house, Lyft reckons, because so much uncertainty surrounds the evolution of autonomous technology. In June Lyft announced another relationship, with an autonomous-driving startup called nuTonomy, which will start testing cars in Boston. There is a risk that Waymo and other partners may try to perfect their own self-driving technology with Lyfts data and then launch a competing ride-hailing network, but that seems a distant possibility.

• autonomous 自动
• autonomous-driving 自动驾驶

第十段：
In the immediate future Lyft may find it harder to keep differentiating itself. Uber has mimicked some of its successful tactics, such as tipping, and is overhauling its culture. Many ride-hailing drivers now work for both services, which means travelling in a Lyft car is no longer unique.

• mimicked 模拟
• unique 独特

第十一段：
The fact that Lyft has won a quarter of the American market could help both firms profits. In 2016 it lost around $600m and Uber $2.8bn. They formerly seemed likely to spend money fighting to the point of mutually assured destruction, says Vincent Letteri of KKR, an investment firm that recently put cash into Lyft (after declining to join in two previous funding rounds). Uber now accepts that Lyft is there to stay; it will have to rein in promotional spending if it wants to achieve healthy profits in America to pay for expansion abroad and to reassure nervous investors, says Mr Letteri. Lyft will have less need to spend heavily on subsidies for drivers and riders. It has stopped its practice of offering new customers $50 in free trips to sign up. Lyft still wants to be nice, but has no wish to be taken for a ride.

• assured 确保
• rein 控制
• subsidies 补贴